I thought it might be worthwhile to clean out the mailbox this week.  It’s become stuffed with inquiries, and while I do try to answer each person who takes the time to write me individually (and thank you to everyone who took the time to write me individually!) some of these questions might have been burning in your brain for a while, dear reader, and thus the answers may prove illuminating for all!

Question 1:  When is the next book coming out??  You’ve been teasing it FOREVER.

Yes, I know, I’m a tease.  I’m terrible.  But the truth of the matter is, I get so excited that when I get cover copy or my back cover blurb, even if its months in advance, I wanna share it with you guys.  But never fear!  The next book, If I Fall, is nearly here!  It will arrive, like a babe being dropped off by a stork, on April 3^rd, 2012.  That’s a mere 6 weeks away!

Question 2: What are you going to do to celebrate If I Fall’s release?

I’m going to dance around my apartment with a pitcher of frozen margaritas, while rewatching season 2 of Downton Abbey.  Also, I’m going to be doing a massive blog tour, giveaways, and signings!  I’ll keep you posted of when and where I’ll be via the Kate’s Events section on the website.

Question 3: What’s on your Netflix queue right now?

I actually find Netflix an excellent resource for research.  For example: I’m writing a book right now set in Venice, Italy, but I’ve never been.  Thus, there are a lot of documentaries and movies on my queue that feature the city.  Also, Portlandia.  (Not for research.  Just because it’s hysterical.)

Question 4: If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

Um…. A noble fir?

Question 5: I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I can never find the time, between kids, family, my job, my hobbies.  How do you squeeze in writing to your daily life?

Well, I don’t squeeze in writing to my life.  Writing is my life.  It’s my job.  But to be fair, it wasn’t always that way.  There was a time that I was squeezing it in on weekends and after work.  The trick is to prioritize.  Granted, I don’t have kids, so there is a little less pressure on my time than there is on yours, but if you are serious about writing, you find it.  You sacrifice 45 minutes of sleep every day so you can get 1000 words down on paper.  You turn off your computer’s internet so you won’t be distracted.  You might have to let go of a hobby or two.  One thing I did when I was starting out, was on Sundays, after I got done at the gym, and before I was expected anywhere, I would go to a diner and write for an hour.  Just me, a cheddar and tomato omelette and a pad of paper.  Carve the time out for yourself and eventually, it will get done.

Question 6: What is the last song you bought on iTunes?

We Are Young by Fun.  And Crazy Dreams, as recorded by Megan Hilty on Smash.

Question 7: Did anyone really ask you these questions?  I mean, come on…  trees?  iTunes?

I am shocked, SHOCKED, that you do not believe that people have been asking me these questions.  Every aspect of my life is of the upmost interest to my readers!

Okay, fine… I made up the tree question.  And the iTunes one.  But everything else are things I have been asked, whether via twitter, email or facebook.  Cross my heart.  And if you have any burning questions for me, please feel free to ask!  I’ll do my best to answer them!

That’s all for now, kids.  I’m getting super excited about If I Fall’s impending release… are you?  Until next time, sweets… happy reading!

Post-its. The greatest invention.

I would like to believe that I am the kind of person who would love nothing better than to have nothing to do.  To be able to say, I have nothing due, no pressing projects, no financial worries, no books to read, no movies in my queue, nothing to post. And if this happened, I would like to believe that I would be able to relax.  Unfortunately, empirical evidence shows this hypothesis to be absolutely false.

I am the type of person who, upon completion of a project, immediately has to fill the void left by the project.  This is unrelated to how many other projects I happen to be working on at any given point in time.  Case in point:  I turned in a project at the beginning of January.  Which made me feel very good.  Very fulfilled.  Do I take the opportunity in my slightly lightened schedule to, say, put a dent in my next novel, who’s due date is rapidly approaching?  Do I pre-write all my blogs for my Bonanza Blog Tour for the release of If I Fall on April 3rd?  Do I prepare my tax returns?

NO.  Of course not!  Why would I do something as silly as all that?  Instead, what I’ve done is pitched a new project to my reps, started taking pottery classes, planned a trip to Peru, and begun putting together a business plan for Super Sekrit Awesome Project (which I hope to tell you about in the near future.)

The truth of the matter is, its been a long time since I’ve had nothing to do.  So long in fact, I do not know if I could function without a minimum level of things to juggle at any given time.  And… I like it.  Life is too short to not have anything to do.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Not a lot going on this week — other than the crazy that is my normal. BUT, in the very near future, I am going to be visiting a few fabulous friends’ blogs — including the incomparable Sarah MacLean.  And don’t forget about my BRAND NEW website contest!  You could win an autographed copy of your choice of my backlist — and there is a brand new winner chosen every two weeks, so there are loads of chances to win!

Until next time sweets, Happy Reading!